Problems with 911 and VoIP

I came across this article and it is for Toronto but it raises some serious concerns that might apply to other areas across the country as well. There are some good questions to ask your VoIP provider at the bottom of the article to make sure you have access to 911 in an emergency.

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_9278.aspx

Emergency Services Issues Public Safety Advisory For VoIP Users

Thursday March 29, 2007

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is rapidly emerging as a major form of telecommunication, but Toronto Police and Emergency Services workers are worried the popular service has one seriously dangerous flaw.

On Thursday, Toronto Emergency Services issued a public safety alert to address the fact that many VoIP subscribers may not be aware of the product's technical limitations in accessing 911 during an emergency.

VoIP's been offered in Toronto since 2004 and uses broadband Internet connections instead of traditional telephone lines.

But without the routing of those landlines there's no way of ensuring that a 911 call will go to the correct response centre, or provide emergency workers with automatic address and telephone information, even if the caller can't speak.

"If we're involved in trying to help the third-party call centre track you down we're going to lose that valuable time in a life-threatening emergency," said Toronto EMS worker David Ralph.

"In a VoIP situation we definitely won't have that information and there could be some confusion as to where and what ambulance service should be contacted."

These features, known as Enhanced 911, aren't guaranteed with VoIP services and are made difficult by the fact that Internet Protocol means the phone has no fixed address.

And there's another issue: the power. In the event of an outage your computer and Internet won't work, while an old-fashioned phone most certainly will.

"If you're using a traditional line it does not rely on hydro electricity to run and so you always have telecommunications," Ralph said.

Here are some possible 911 limitations when using VoIP:

The VoIP service operator may send a request for emergency service to the wrong 911 Centre or a non-emergency line causing a potential delay in response

If a caller is unable to speak, or if the call is disconnected, the operator may not have automatic location information to give to 911 Call takers

Access to 911 service for VoIP customers may not be available during a power failure or if the Internet connection is disrupted

VoIP services do not have to enlist the use of a Language Line interpretation service as currently used by the Toronto 911 Centre.

Obtaining answers to the following questions may help when choosing a VoIP provider:

Will I be able to contact my Toronto 911 Centre without the use of a third-party operator?

When dialing 911, will my phone number and address be readily displayed in the Toronto 911 Centre (Enhanced 911)?

Ensuring direct and immediate public access to 911 is of great concern to Toronto's Police, Fire and Emergency Medical Services. Speak with potential service providers for a full description of their 911 limitations.

We use VOIP lines here Carole (We have 8 of them actually) and always keep a standard PSTN (Standard Telecoms line) and cell phones just because VOIP has many limitations and many dependencies.

For instance when the power goes out or INTERNET dies you loose your phone and even though our VOIP lines are registered with 911 I know many companies do not do this.

If we dial 911 on a VOIP line our VOIP provider has set it up to go to our dispatch with our name and address and they sent out lots of notices about power failures, loss of INTERNET etc... that would limit your 911 access (They are a very responsible VOIP provider).

Make sure if your only going with one VOIP line in your house you go with a provider that can offer this service (For residential service I believe Vonage registers you with 911 but some people have had echo problems with Vonage - maybe a Vonage user can enlighten us about this service provider?).

I know that if your transferring an existing line to your VOIP provider expect your line to go off for a few days too! They promise it will be smooth but everyone I know in Canada who has attempted this has had lots of problems as the telecoms companies make it very difficult for the VOIP and other telecoms companies to take over a line.

I would also recommend a cell phone just in case of power failures and INTERNET outages!

Our VOIP lines are free long distance anywhere in North America (and some other countries as well) so it saves us approximately 600.00 a month using the New VOIP lines. They do have benefits in the right situation.